Richmond Events’ latest business panel report on research and development is now available. Headline findings include –

The average number of people working within an organisations' research function is 21.

55% of respondents have between 1-5 employees within their research function.

Around a third of the panel don’t have a specific research department yet allow whoever comes up with a new idea / product to research it themselves.

The average amount the panel commits to R&D as a percentage of their overall turnover is 4%.

80% of the panel say they purchase from external market research agencies - 20% regularly and 60% sometimes.

Organisations tend to undertake research more frequently with their customers than non customers.

The majority of the panel are positive in their views towards research - almost one third say it keeps them up with or ahead of competition whilst over half feel it greatly increases effectiveness / product development.

Well over half of organisations use their own employees to continually research their customers.

Just under half of the panel feel it is always almost money well spent. However it is closely followed by 45% who feel measuring ROI on R&D is more difficult.

On a less positive note only 39% of the panel use research to better understand their competition.

Richmond Events’ latest business panel report on employee engagement is now available. Headline findings include –

82% of the panel feel employee engagement is essential within their organisation, with a further 15% feeling it’s nice to have.

Only 70% of the panel say their organisations actually measure employee engagement. A worrying 4% are unsure if they do or not…

The panel feel that levels of employee engagement are higher within their department than they are for their organisation as a whole.

50% of the panel feel that engagement levels have increased within their organisations’ over the past 3 years.

The most popular measurement tools for employee engagement are questionnaires and appraisals. However, only 4% of the panel feel engagement questionnaires completely reflect the true feelings of their organisation.

The two most important factors in terms of employee engagement are good line management and a good leadership team.

The two areas needing most improvement are good line management and a good leadership team!

Our latest Business Panel report on the UK economic outlook is now available. Headline findings include:-

Only 8% rate the government’s handling of the economy as very good, 52% as acceptable, 28% could have been better and 8% as shocking.

The panel predicts interest rates will be at (average) 0.8% in 1 year’s time and 1.88% in 3 years’ time.

Not a single respondent expects the economy to grow significantly over the coming year, whilst 24% expect it to grow marginally. A further 45% expect it to stay much the same as it is now, whilst 29% expect it to shrink a little and 2% shrink a lot. These figures are down versus last year.

The Retail sector is the most pessimistic, with 92% predicting things are going to get a little or a lot tougher (transport & travel are the only ones who predict ‘carnage’!)

Less than half the panel feel their organisation’s profit will increase in 2012, though up from 41% last year. 19% feel their profits will fall this year, 6% more than last year. 3% are undecided.

Budgets – mixed news. The proportion expecting an increase has remained similar to last year, 23% down from 24%. However this figure is still dwarfed by the 33% expecting a decrease (though also down from 37% last year). The remaining 44% don’t expect to see a change.

Our latest report is now available on the topic of leadership. Here are the headline findings and to view the full report please click the link at the bottom.

Almost 75% of the panel feel they are good leaders and 13% are prepared to claim they are excellent!

IT are the most are most bullish about their leadership abilities, followed by Marketing and Finance.

100% are honest enough to admit their leadership skills can be improved, be it slightly or significantly.

The majority of the panel feel their leadership style involves them supporting and developing their staff (we haven’t asked the staff). The panel also feel they value input and seek commitment.

When asked where improvements can be made in terms of leadership, the most popular responses were relationship building with senior colleagues, followed by better communication skills and encouraging more innovation and creativity.

The majority of people have picked up their leadership skills from a combination of people they’ve worked for. Only 10% say they acquired them from their current boss.

The panel has more confidence in their team delivering the strategy and vision of their organisation than they do in the organisation’s leaders.

Over 75% of the panel admit at some stage to experiencing anxiety in their role, with the majority feeling at some point it affects their ability to do the job.

Only just over 25% currently admit to having both the desire and ability to one day become the leader of an organisation.

Unsurprisingly the current economic situation is the biggest challenge that over half the panel face. This is followed by growing their businesses and culture change. Budgets are in 4th place, followed by increased regulation.

Good news for David Cameron, less so for Ed Miliband. Whilst 65% of the panel rate Cameron’s leadership qualities as good or excellent, the corresponding figure for Miliband is 8%. In terms of being poor / very poor the figures are 8% and 56% respectively.

Our latest report is now available on the topical subject of The Eurozone.

Here are the headline findings and to view the full report please click on the link at the bottom.

Asked for their views on the Euro a 69% majority of the panel feel it’s likely to stagger on much as presently.

The next highest proportion of 13% feel the Euro will recover and strengthen within one year, whilst 12% feel the polar opposite, i.e. it will collapse within one year.

Only one person feels it will strengthen within 6 months, whilst 2% feel it will collapse within 6 months. Interesting times indeed!

Asked about their view of a return to individual currencies for the Eurozone the highest proportion of the panel is indifferent. Of those with a view over one third believes it would be advantageous to Britain whilst one in five believe it would be disastrous.

We then asked if Europe was to regain stability and its former economic strength would the panel favour Britain joining the Eurozone. Only 14% said yes compared to 63% no, the remainder maybe; never say never.

6% of the panel feel the Eurozone will return to a sustained period of growth within the year. The highest proportion, 43% feel it will return within 2 years, whilst 41% feel it will within 5 years. 10% admit to having no idea whatsoever!

In terms of banks lending to British businesses, one in five claims it’s not as easy to obtain credit as it was before the recession, whilst 9% say ‘their’ banks have not always been helpful lately. 7% have found it excessively expensive to borrow from their banks whilst 3% admit to having real problems.

Two thirds of the panel believe unemployment will eventually fall; over half the panel feels it will reduce within 2 years and 9% within the year. Against this, the remaining third cannot see a fall in unemployment for the foreseeable future.

Asked for their agreement levels from a series of statements: the most vehement are that British banks should separate their retail functions from the more speculative investment arm, and, that whilst the Coalition promised to slash the numbers of quangos and civil servants, the results so far have been wholly unimpressive.

Interestingly over half the panel disagreed with the statement that the Government should relax some of its austerity measures to stimulate the economy. Just under one third agreed they should.

Over ½ the panel agree that Anti-Europe sentiment is increasing in Britain.

Almost two thirds of the panel agree that British banks have been insufficiently penalised for their role in provoking the credit crunch.